A question for Mormons, or any who can answer the following:?

Question

Lozzy Woo; I do have stacks of books, I confess I am a bit of a scholar, studied at Oxford.

Answer 1

Yes, you are right. It was implying that we've been with God before.

In short (because I have to go to work):

We are His literal spirit sons and daughters. We lived with Him in the "pre-existance" before we came to live on earth in the state of mortality. We did not have bodies of flesh and bone before, like our Father did. His desire is that we become like Him. A body is necessary to do this. We have come to this earth to gain a body and to be tested. If we prove worthy, we can return to live with our Father again in the Celestial Kingdom. (There are 3 kingdoms of glory; or 3 "heavens").

If you're still confused, which you might be, you can talk to a missionary online and they can explain it better. Go to www.mormon.org -> ask a question -> chat live

I was looking that scripture up, and the scriptures I found are in the Book of Mormon.

"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. " -Alma 34:34

"And that which I have chosen hath pled before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment; " -Moses 7:39

Answer 2

We believe we were spirit children before this world was created. Its a major portion of our beliefs that we lived with god before this earth and we learned everything we could but we were innocent just like Adam and Eve were in the garden. So we didn't know right from wrong.

Edit: Isn't religion supposed to be spiritual? I don't know anything about spiritualism.

Answer 3

Um... They could have been referring to a couple different verses...

The king james version of the bible (and the other LDS scriptures) are available here: http://scriptures.lds.org/

It is nice because its easy to search for key words and you can limit it to specific parts of the scriptures- old testament, new testament, book of mormon, etc... or search everything.

As for specific pre-existence references in the scriptures-

Jeremiah 1:5- "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations"

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Rom: 8.14.

Romans chapter 9 discusses the pre-existence and foreordination of spirits before their birth.  Specifically verse11 is a good one- the kids werent yet born, but already jacob was loved and esau was not.  Thats because Jacob was foreordained to his calling.

I have studied various religions also, and I have studied the LDS teachings quite a bit.  The biggest thing you will probably see is a huge disparity between what the church sites and the anti-church sites say.  A big tactic I ran into a lot with the anti-mormon sites is to change a couple words or change the scope of a statement, leave out part or it, or add commentary and then attack the new idea.  

Its a pretty decieving practice so make sure you check out any of their claims and verify what the church really believes.  I guess better than that would be to ask a member what they believe, but thats up to you.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer to the best of my ability, feel free to email me whenever.  I joined the church about 9 years ago and I have continually studied the doctrines of the church and the anti's claims.

Good luck!

Edit-

So apparently the search function isnt perfect.  :-)  but it appears you found your citation.

Answer 4

Returning would mean we were with Him before.

This is what we believe:

We were ALL created as spirit children of God the Father (Yes even Christ and Lucifer).  All of us, everyone.  We lived with God, and Christ, and you and me and anyone else you can think of.  God our Father wanted us to become like Him, He wants us to live the life He lives, He wanted us to have a body, have mortal experiences and to learn and grow.  Being a parent, I can understand that.  

Ok, so, He knew the only way for us to become like Him, was to first go through a mortal experience and to gain a body.  

Lucifer wanted us to come to earth and have no agency.  He wanted to be in charge to to have all the glory.

The Savior, who was Jehovah, wanted us to have our agency.  That also meant we must have a Redeemer, a Savior.  He volunteered and God our Father chose Him and His plan.  Christ also said to our Father, "The glory be thine."

With me so far?

OK, then Lucifer rebelled, and also convinced 1/3 of all of God's children to follow him.  They were all cast out of God's presence and will never gain a body.  They will be spirits forever.

So, this earth-life is a test.  The test is - can we obey God's commands and do what he asks?  Then we can return if we do.

It would still be interesting to know what video you watched.

If you have time, and want to, I suggest reading this talk... it's about your question.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vg...

Answer 5

May I suggest that you go to their website. Mormon.com and request a book of mormon. They will send missionaries to your home to talk with you and answer your questions.....

I teach a class on evangelism. I did this to bring them in so that people from my class could learn directly from them and learn what to expect to hear as they witnessed to them.

If you do this, do it for learning experience. You can never win an argument with them.  They have an answer for everything.

Answer 6

The LDS believe in a pre-existence --- that we were all with God previous to coming to this earth.

I would have to know the video to give reference to what they were talking about.

Edit:  Could be.......

Titus 1: 2

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

John 17: 5, 24

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

      Ã¢Â€Â¢  Ã¢Â€Â¢  Ã¢Â€Â¢

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

edit2:  maybe this would help too....

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/tg/m/25

good luck - because the words 'return to be with God' do not appear in scripture - she was paraphrasing.  try the edit 2 link and go from there....hope that helps

Answer 7

Well.

We do believe in a pre-mortal existence..

Here are some scriptural references which support the idea.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Proverbs 8:22-31 (You can look it up..)

Job 1:6

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

Job 38:4-7

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the carth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

If you have any questions feel free to send an email..

Yep yep.

:]

Answer 8

Ecclesiastes 12:7 - "the spirit shall RETURN unto God who gave it"

By definition, if your "return" to something/someone, you've been there before.

The idea that our spirits existed with God before the creation of the world is not something invented by Mormons.  For one, it's found in the Bible (see scripture above; see also, for example, Jeremiah 1:5).  But this notion was also found among the teachings of the early Christians:

--Origen quoted a Jewish apocryphal document called the "Prayer of Joseph," which asserted that Jacob was one of the archangels in his premortal existence:

"Thus Jacob says: 'I, Jacob, who speak to you, arid Israel, I am an angel of God, a ruling spirit, and Abraham and Isaac were created BEFORE every work of God; and I am Jacob, called Jacob by men, but my name is Israel, called Israel by God,' "

--The Enoch texts also contain the common element of the pre-existence. (This is significant, since the early Christians apparently took at least one of these documents very seriously. Indeed, Jude referred to one of them in his general epistle. (See Jude 1:14) 2 Enoch states that, "all souls are prepared to eternity, BEFORE the formation of the world,"

Answer 9

Before I can answer, I am wondering what video you watched? Was it one produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? Because if it isn't, then you can't take anything from it as the position or doctrine of the Church. (Also begrudgingly known as Mormons. We don't like that name BTW.)

It's good that you like to study many things. While studying "Mormons" just be aware that there is A LOT of false information circulating out there in the great world wide web. And lots of falsehoods professed by individuals here on YA that claim they know the beliefs of Mormonism.

As for your question about the verse in question, it doesn't sound familiar. Not that it's not a real scripture, but that phrase is not ringing any bells. Is there anything else you can give me to go on?

Happy to help if you want/need it. =)

Answer 10

Yes, as other LDS members have mentioned, we do believe that we lived with our Heavenly Father before we were born.  For details on our belief, as well as scriptures supporting this belief:  http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vg...

As far as where the person in the Bible read that, it could be Eccl 12:7? "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."  Or it could be a paraphrase of another scripture with the same meaning.

Answer 11

Look it up i'm sure you have selve's at home stacked with books or if not go to the libary :D hope this answers it :D x

Answer 12

You've got some good answers here.  Phrog's second link is a good one to get into like scripture - each one of those links will expand the search.  From there you can also gain key words to search topics in Phrog's first link.

Hope that helps you.  God bless.